


We Used To Be Friends

by TheDisloyalOne



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Gen, I mean, That was angsty, anyway this was based on an actual experience I had, damn son, jaded, jaded?, not really - Freeform, sort of, why am i so bad at tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 17:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11582967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDisloyalOne/pseuds/TheDisloyalOne
Summary: Mercury goes to the park for a skateboarding session. While there, he sees someone he used to be friends with.





	We Used To Be Friends

**Author's Note:**

> A really quick, really rough draft of something while I had the inspiration. It doesn't come often, so I had to take advantage of it. 
> 
> Oh, also, this has a fair bit of swearing.
> 
> read on tumblr: https://disloyaltoafault.tumblr.com/post/163312682665/we-used-to-be-friends

It’s too loud. These feelings are too much. I have to get out, I need air, I need space. This family is so dysfunctional, I can’t handle it. I grab my board and I’m out the door before anyone can say anything. 

  


I ride like hell to the closest public park. I come here often. There’s an area set aside for skating. Not a lot, just some meager halfpipes and the like. It’s not bad though. Tonight there’s no one else, just me and my board. 

  


I skate for a while. It’s soothing, the feeling of coasting over the pavement. I don’t know how long I spend dropping in and pushing off. After a while, breathing heavily and all sweaty, I lie down at the top of a halfpipe. I stare up at the sky, watching the clouds drift lazily past in the sunset. It’s eerily peaceful. I close my eyes, listening; listening to the cars passing by on the distant road; the voices of children playing on the playground nearby for a last few minutes before they have to go to bed; parents having quiet conversations on a bench while watching their kids play. 

  


Oh, how I wish my childhood had been like that. 

  


I suddenly hear a voice I recognize. I open my eyes, sitting up and looking around. I catch a glimpse of mint-green hair disappearing around the corner of the dugout next to a baseball diamond. Could it be? It seems impossible, yet --

  


I slowly stand up, picking up my board. I stare at the dugout, desperately trying to think what the hell I should say to her. What  _ could _ I even say to her? 

  


If it was her in the first place. 

  


My legs start walking in the direction of the dugout. I don’t know what I’m doing, why the hell am I doing this? Will she even remember me? What will I  _ say?? _

  


I’ve reached the dugout. I look in. It is her, I know it, I see her face now. She looks up from her scroll. 

  


“Sup,” she says. I barely remember to nod a hello. My legs are still moving, all on their own, past the dugout. Away from her. 

  


Holy shit. It was her. It was really her. Did she recognize me? She didn’t seem to. She was with another guy, one I didn’t know. But it was her, I know it was now. 

  


Now what? 

  


I step inside a portable outhouse, one of those ones that’s always at the park but no one ever uses.  I don’t have to use it myself, but I don’t want to walk past her again. I stand inside for a couple minutes, breathing shallowly. The smell is terrible. I guess people use it more often than I thought. 

  


I step back out. My board, which I left leaning against the outside, is still there. I grab it, not moving. Eventually I begin walking, around the edge of the park, taking the long way back to the skate area. It’s a big park, and it takes me a while. In the farthest corner, a large circus tent it set up. Apparently the circus is in town. 

  


Whatever. 

  


Once, I imagined myself running away to join the circus. I never actually wanted to though. It seemed like the last place people go to for work, where only depressed people and angst-ridden children went. 

  


I mean, I guess I’m kind of angsty right now. 

  


Gross. 

  


I reach the skate area. There’s a chainlink fence around the whole thing, and the entrance is all  the way on the other side. It’s not really that far, especially compared to what I just walked, but I don’t feel like going over to that side. I hop the fence. 

  


I skate a little longer. A little kid walks onto one of the ramps. He doesn’t have a skateboard. 

  


He has a stuffed animal. 

  


He notices me and tries to talk. I don’t talk back. I’m not good with kids. 

  


It’s not that I hate them, I just don’t know how to handle them. 

  


The kid leaves. I skate some more. 

  


Was it really her? I can’t believe it’s her. I haven’t seen her in years. I don’t even remember the last time I saw her. It’s funny, I was thinking about her the other day. Wondering what became of her. 

  


I stop skating. I sit at the top of a ramp, looking over at the dugout. Is she still there? 

  


She is. I can just see her feet, bouncing on the floor. 

  


Should I talk to her? I can’t, but I want to. I don’t want to, but I feel as if I have to. If I don’t, I can’t help feeling I’ll regret it. I’ll talk to her. I will. 

  


I skate some more. I see some other people walking over there. Are they walking to her, or past her? 

  


I can’t tell. 

  


I stop skating. I pick up my board, and start walking deliberately over to the baseball field. I have to force myself, every bit of me is screaming at me to walk away. I keep walking her way. 

  


There’s a fence around the baseball field, too. I hop that one, tossing my board over it. I scoop it up and continue walking. I reach the dugout. Shit, there are other people here. More of them. They’re talking quietly amongst themselves, some looking at their scrolls. I stand there, trying to get my mouth to move. One guy says hi. I nod at him. 

  


“Hi.” 

  


My eyes are on her. Her long green hair, her deep red eyes, her smooth brown skin. She looks at me. 

  


“Hi, sorry,” I manage. “You -- you look familiar.” 

  


“Me?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. So she doesn’t recognize me. I figured as much. Maybe it’s the hair. I dyed it silver shortly after the last time I saw her. 

  


“Yeah. Is...your name Emerald?” 

  
She looks surprised. “Yes, it is.”

  


I smile nervously, letting out a breathy laugh. “I’m Mercury. I think we use to go to school together.” 

  


A moment of recognition flashes across her eyes. “Oh yeah, I do remember you. It’s been years.” 

  


I nod, glancing at the dirt. The other kids aren’t saying anything, but they’re not watching me either. I feel awkward, this was a mistake, a terrible mistake.

  


“Is that your board?” she asks, pointing at the skateboard tucked under my arm. 

  


“Yeah,” I reply automatically, nodding. One of the other kids looks up. 

  


“I used to skate,” he says. “I was pretty good at it for a while.” 

  


I look at him. “Yeah, I’m still a beginner. I don’t know many tricks yet.” I don’t know any. It’s been two years since I started, and I still can’t even manage an ollie. 

  


He nods. Does he smirk a little, or is it my imagination? “Remember that kickflips are easy, no matter what they say. They’re super easy.” 

  


“Yeah.” I don’t know why I’m agreeing with him. For me, they’re plenty hard. 

  


I turn to Emerald. “So, what have you been doing?” 

  


“I go to private school now,” she answers. That explains why I haven’t seen her around. I don’t know what to say. 

  


“Cool,” I say. 

  


She nods. 

  


“Yeah.” 

  


There’s a pause. I feel really awkward. This was a mistake. Am I blushing? I hope not. 

  


“Now I just smoke a lot of weed,” she continues. 

  


Oh. I should have guessed that’s what the smell was. I’ve never done drugs. I thought she was smarter than that. 

  


Is weed a harmful drug? 

  


I should have asked her what private school is like. It’s too late now, we’ve moved on. The awkward silence is growing. We look at each other. I nod, start to say something, and stop. She doesn’t say anything. 

  


I turn and walk away. No one says anything. No one even looks up. 

  


Are they watching me as I leave? I want to turn around and go back, but I can’t. That was the most I could force myself to do. 

  


Did I hear her call my name? I stop, turn and look. She doesn’t seem to have moved, and I don’t hear anything else. I turn my back and continue walking away. This time I swear I hear her say my name, but I’m too far now. I don’t stop. I pretend to look at my scroll, as if someone’s texting me. No one has, but they don’t know that. I start running, across the bridge over the river running past the park, down the hill on the other side into the parking lot. I throw down my board, skating as fast as I can. 

  


I pass a couple of girls walking two dogs. They look at me as I pass, but I don’t look at them. I continue skating. The dogs bark, and the girls scold them, but I don’t stop. 

  


I keep going until I’m out of breath. I sit down on a bench, then lie down. I close my eyes. 

  


It was her. I just spoke with her. I can’t believe this. 

  


“Fuck,” I whisper. “Holy fucking shit.” 

  


I can’t believe this. It’s been years. I just spoke with her. She remembered me. Not at first, but she remembered me. 

  


That was so awkward. “Fuck.” What the hell was I thinking? It’s been years. I knew it would be awkward. I hate talking to people. 

  


But we used to be friends. 

  


There were rumors that we were a couple. Stupid. We were never a couple, we weren’t interested in that kind of relationship. We were just friends. 

  


Maybe she’d want to be a couple now? 

  


Nah. It’s too awkward. Everything I do is awkward, fuck me. 

  


Fuck. 

  


I sit up, opening my eyes. The girls walking the dogs are way past me now, disappearing in the distance. Good. I want to be alone. 

  


No I don’t, I want to be home. I pull out my scroll, thumbing through the messages until I see Neo’s name. My sister of sorts. I ask her to come pick me up. 

  


She replies shortly after. She’ll be there in ten minutes. 

  


I stand and start skating again. I almost expect to see Emerald coming from the park. I  _ do  _ see Emerald -- no, wait, it’s just some guy. He lights a cigarette. I turn, skateboarding the other way. 

  


Neo arrives. I get in the car. 

  


“Hey.” 

  


She smiles. We drive home. Home. It may be dysfunctional as all hell, but it’s home. 

**Author's Note:**

> ol·lie  
> älē/  
> noun  
> 1.  
> (in skateboarding and snowboarding) a jump performed without the aid of a takeoff ramp, executed by pushing the back foot down on the tail of the board, bringing the board off the ground.  
> verb  
> 1.  
> perform an ollie.
> 
> kick·flip  
> ˈkikflip/  
> noun  
> (in skateboarding) a maneuver in which the board is manipulated by the feet during a jump so that it spins sideways through 360 degrees before landing.


End file.
